NYC. Brooklyn. Exploring Ditmas Park.

I’m nout a fan of the suburbs, never been and probably never will be. But even as a city girl I can’t deny that suburban living has some perks: the quiet, the space, tree-lined street, detached houses and front and backyards. And now I finally found a suburb I’d be happy to live in: Ditmas Park in the heart of Brooklyn!

Ditmas Park is a designated Historic District in the neighborhood of Flatbush, south of Prospect Park. It has the largest concentration of Victorian houses in any neighborhood in the US and consists mostly of free-standing, single family homes. While living there for the first five nights of my NYC trip I loved walking along each and every street to see all of the different houses. Not two are alike!

You can get to Ditmas Park easily on the B and Q train, it’s a 20-minute subway ride from Downtown Manhattan. Get off at Church Avenue and start your walk through the neighborhood from there.

The streets with the most impressive an interesting houses are Abermale Road (especially No. 1305 and 1306), Buckingham Road, Rugby Road, Marlborough Road and the Flatbush Malls:

Cortelyou Road is the main shopping street in Ditmas Park with some good cafés, restaurants and bars such as: Mimi’s Hummus, Café Madelaine, Sycamore Bar, Cafe Tibet and The Farm on Adderly.

But my favourite was Milk & Honey on Newkirk Avenue: friendly staff, great coffee, amazing food (try the Egyptian Poached Eggs or the Croque Madame, as pictured below) and a beautiful interior.

After a coffee or a meal it’s time for more exploring:

Heading back to Manhattan (or Brooklyn, or wherever) take the Q train at Avenue H. The station was built in 1907 and its station house is landmarked now. There are several rocking chairs outside to relax on while you wait for your train: